Popular high street retailer to close 37 stores starting from this month – is your local affected? | The Sun

A POPULAR high street retailer is closing 37 stores this summer, with dozens to shut in June.

Argos will shut all 34 stores in the Republic of Ireland on June 24.

While the closures were announced in January, shoppers are being reminded about them as we get closer to the stores' final trading dates.

The company has blamed the move on the investment required to develop and modernise the Irish part of its business as “not viable”.

Argos, which is owned by Sainsbury's, has also confirmed further UK locations later this summer.

The Argos store in Cardiff Bay is set to close in July and the St Stephens store will close in August.

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Newport will also close later in the summer but a date has yet to be confirmed.

It is understood that employees of these stores will be given the opportunity to redeploy to other roles within Sainsbury's and Argos.

The retailer is moving away from the high street and expanding its presence in supermarkets, with concessions inside branches.

By the end of March 2023, the retailer had opened 25 Argos locations inside Sainsbury's stores.

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And by March 2024, Sainsbury's expects to have 160 standalone stores and between 430 and 460 Argos counters inside Sainsbury’s supermarkets.

Speaking on the Ireland closures, Andy McClelland, Argos Ireland operations manager, said: “We understand this is difficult news for our customers and colleagues.

"As with any major change to our business, we have not made this decision lightly and we are doing everything we can to support those impacted.

"On behalf of everyone at Argos I would like to thank our colleagues, customers, suppliers and partners for their support to our business.”

Argos' home delivery service closed to Irish shoppers on March 22, while click and collect will remain available until stores close.

Here's the full list of Argos stores set to close in Ireland:

• Ashbourne Retail Park
• Athlone Argos
• Blanchardstown West End Argos
• Carlow Argos
• Castlebar Argos
• Cavan Argos
• Clonmel Argos
• Cork Mahon Argos
• Cork Retail Park Argos
• Drogheda Argos
• Dun Laoghaire Argos
• Dundalk Retail Park Argos
• Dundrum Argos
• Galway Argos
• Ilac Centre (Dublin) Argos
• Kilkenny Argos
• Killarney Argos
• Letterkenny Argos
• Liffey Valley Argos
• Limerick Childers Road Argos
• Longford Argos
• Monaghan Argos
• Naas Argos
• Navan Argos
• Omni Park (Dublin) Argos
• Portlaoise Argos
• Rathfarnham Nutgrove Argos
• Sligo Argos 4146
• St. Stephens Green (Dublin)
• Tallaght Argos
• Tralee Argos
• Tullamore Argos
• Waterford Argos
• Wexford Argos

It follows a particularly tumultuous time for UK high streets with several popular chains including M&Co and Paperchase closing all stores in 2023.

Retailers have been feeling the pinch since the pandemic while shoppers are cutting back on spending due to soaring inflation.

High energy costs and a shift to shopping online after the pandemic are also taking a toll and many high street shops have struggled to keep going.

Iceland is closing another one of its supermarkets in June.

Plus, New Look is permanently pulling down the shutters on two of its shops in June and July.

Shops aren't the only ones affected, major burger chain Byron Burger also fell into administration and closed nine restaurants immediately.

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In December, pub chain Wetherspoons announced it would be closing a total of 39 pubs after being hit by soaring inflation.

We rounded up the full list of shops and chains disappearing from the high street this year.

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